Egypt is increasing its military presence in the Sinai, breaking a 45-year-old peace treaty with Israel, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter warned during a meeting with American Jewish organizations on January 28.

Egypt has constructed military bases in the Sinai “that can only be used for offensive operations” and “offensive weapons,” Leiter said in a video recording shared by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on February 14.

This is a breach of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel that required Israel to cede the Sinai to Egypt if Egypt promised never to arm the region. Egypt has routinely broken this deal, but recent developments show “there is a significant increase in Egyptian military presence in the Sinai Peninsula, far beyond even the previous violations of the peace treaty,” according to former Israeli Deputy Ambassador to Egypt, Ruth Wasserman Lande.

Recent satellite images have shown Abrams tanks amassed in the Sinai Peninsula. “The presence of tanks near Israel’s border is a blatant violation of the peace agreement,” said Israeli Lt. Col. (Res.) Eliyahu Dekel, who tracks Egypt’s adherence to the peace agreement. According to Dekel, Egypt has about 100 Abrams tanks in el-Arish, the capital of North Sinai.

“Sinai is supposed to be free of all military forces. If the latest images are verified, the concern isn’t just about forces in Sinai, the key issue is the type of tanks,” Dekel explained. “The images show Abrams tanks, which are Egypt’s premier battle tanks, reserved for elite units.” Under the peace deal, Egypt is supposed to have only division-level tanks in the region.

Dekel said Egypt has also built three new airfields and dug massive tunnels in the peninsula. He added that the peace treaty allows Egypt to have military camps for 47 battalions in the Sinai, but “currently, there are camps for 180 battalions, four times the permitted amount.”

Israel has allowed Egypt to double its forces in the Sinai beyond the agreement to combat Islamic State influence, but the amount in the satellite images exceeds those allowances.

“Not only are we allowing the buildup of forces on the other side, but we are also permitting it without receiving anything in return, in a way that does not align with the diplomatic language of the Middle East,” Wasserman Lande warned.

Smuggling Route

The fear is that Egypt will use the Sinai against Israel; this isn’t just a hypothetical scenario. There is massive evidence the peninsula is being used as a smuggling route to supply Israel’s enemies within its borders, like the Hamas terrorist group.

The Israel Defense Forces (idf) continually shoots down drones from Egypt smuggling weapons, ammunition and other supplies into Israel. On January 29, the idf said it foiled an attempt to smuggle 13 assault rifles via drone into Israel. The drone was spotted crossing the Egypt-Israel border and was shot down.

Israel’s military is also facing a new issue of weapons being smuggled from Egypt via Bedouins on all-terrain vehicles. The supplies are coming from the Sinai into Israel and are given to Bedouins, who take them to criminal organizations or up to the West Bank.

While occupying the Philadelphi Corridor, running along the Egypt-Gaza border, the idf also discovered a massive trove of underground tunnels running from the Sinai into Gaza. It’s believed these tunnels were used to arm Hamas with Iranian weaponry and supplies before the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel. At least 180 of these tunnels have been discovered, and the idf has been working to destroy them.

Strategic Change

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hasn’t always been on Hamas’s side. Early in his reign, Hamas—an offshoot of the Muslim brotherhood—sent fighters to the Sinai to train Islamic State terrorists, who would then commit terrorist attacks in Egypt, such as assassinating Egypt’s chief prosecutor who cracked down on dissent, Hisham Barakat.

However, when Yahya Sinwar became the leader of Hamas in 2017, Egyptian intelligence head Abbas Kamel visited Gaza and made a deal with the terrorist group, saying if Hamas stopped training terrorists to attack Egypt, Egypt would open the Rafah crossing 24 hours a day. Opening the Rafah crossing meant Hamas could more easily smuggle weapons and supplies, mostly coming from Iran, into Gaza.

idf Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, who commanded the Egyptian-Gazan border for two years, said, “The Egyptians know exactly what they are doing, the way they are weaponizing Hamas to basically undermine Israel’s security.”

“We better wake up and understand that we might face a future challenge,” he said. “We need to be alert and work on this relationship and prepare for a possible strategic change in the future.”

This strategic change is prophesied in the Bible. Daniel 11:40 states:

And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.

In his free booklet The King of the South, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains that “the king of the south” refers to radical Islamic states headed by Iran, and “the king of the north” is a modern German-led Holy Roman Empire.

The king of the north will come against Iran like a violent whirlwind and then conquer “the glorious land,” or the Holy Land—Israel (verse 41). Verse 42 states “the land of Egypt shall not escape.”

Mr. Flurry explains:

Egypt will be conquered or controlled by the king of the north. This clearly implies that Egypt will be allied with the king of the south.

This prophecy indicates we are about to see a far-reaching change in Egyptian politics!

Mr. Flurry goes on to explain that some of these changes have already taken place. After the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who was favorable to Israel, the pro-Iran Muslim Brotherhood took charge until Sisi came to power in a coup d’état.

“Iran’s sway within Egypt was wrested from them,” Mr. Flurry writes. “Yet Bible prophecy shows this is only temporary. These pro-Iranian hard-liners are destined to return to power. The Muslim Brotherhood still enjoys tremendous support in Egypt.”

Egypt militarizing the Sinai and giving in to Iran and its terrorist proxies is a trend to watch. These developments loom dangerously over Israel, as the clash between the king of the north and the king of the south ultimately revolves around taking Jerusalem (Daniel 11:41).

To learn more, read our Trends article “Why the Trumpet Watches Iran Allying With Egypt.”